Start Your Family

I'm in Colorado Springs, CO, this week for radio interviews with Focus on the Family and Boundless. Dr. Dobson is interviewing Candice Watters and me on the topic of singleness tomorrow. Afterward, I will have the pleasure of dinner with Steve & Candice Watters and their clan. On the way to Colorado, I was able to read a book that has been on my list for a few months -- Start Your Family: Inspiration for Having Babies.

The Watters say they wrote this book to "help other average couples like ourselves take an intentional path to family." It's an engaging book, easy to read, and persuasive in its arguments. The foundation of the book is the idea that being intentional about starting a family is a good and godly thing. But because in the last half century, "choice has grown into one of our greatest commodities," many young couples see having children as a lifestyle choice and fail to understand the biblical reasons for having children.

The Watters dig into some of our cultural assumptions to hold up a mirror to our behaviors and thought patterns. One of my favorite reflections was about our culture's current bent toward ecological preservation that is unconnected to the humans who live here--and how babies are often believed to add more to global warming. As they write, "In each case, children are seen only as a drain on Earth's resources instead of as people who might one day solve our problems." 

I also liked Candice's honesty about her futile initial attempts to "have it all" and to fit parenting into the lifestyle she had already built. "It turns everything upside down when you shift from thinking about what set-up would be optimal for you, to thinking about what would be best for a child. ... For all the debates about whether mothers of young children should work and whether they should place their children in day care, rarely, if ever, does anyone ask, 'What would you want if you were a toddler?'"

I highly recommend that young couples -- both engaged and married -- check out this book and let its winsome arguments challenge the prevailing thinking.

Comments

[Jessica]

I was at "Focus on the Family" today when you were recording the broadcast. Although I haven't read your book and although I wasn't able to hear the whole broadcast today. I just wanted to tell you that I was greatly touched and blessed by your evident joy and relationship with our Heavenly Father! May the Lord richly bless you!!!

[Vivian Saavedra]

Kudos to you for being able to read this book as a single woman. I can't, not now.